Hot foot powder is used in African American hoodoo folk magic to drive unwanted people away.
It also shows some overlapping uses with goofer dust, which also is known to create restlessness and drive people away.
The practice became African-American when Black people in America used American materials such as North American herbs, roots and animal parts, to create a powder combining with a person's foot track and sprinkle it on their shoes or in their foot tracks to "hoodoo the person.
In the 1930s song "Hellhound on My Trail", the blues musician Robert Johnson said, "You sprinkled hot foot powder [...] all around your daddy's door / it keep me with ramblin' mind, rider, every old place I go.
"[5] In 2000, the British rock guitarist Peter Green released a CD called "Hot Foot Powder", containing 13 covers of songs written by Robert Johnson.